Self-Portrait with Hand Microscope received the 1982 Joseph Henry Jackson Award in Literature.
“Self-Portrait with Hand Microscope is an exceptional collection, frequently drawing upon the concerns of the neurochemist and biologist whose laboratory procedures make stunning connections for the poet between microscopic and human life.
“Whether her subject is neural folds, hatching turtles, tumors, or self-planting seeds, Lucille Day’s tight poetic descriptions take us effortlessly toward our inevitable relationship with other forms of matter. The poet’s range widens to include a sequence of dramatic moments in which the painful ironies of family life are coupled to tender appraisals of marriage, child rearing, and domestic obligations.
“This inventive and accessible poet turns old kitchens and scientific laboratories into new places worth exploring along with her.”
—Robert Pinsky, David Littlejohn, and Michael Rubin
Judges, Joseph Henry Jackson Award